Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest Issue No. 425
26-07-2008
by Deirdre McArdle
Yahoo claims 'strong' Q2 | Icahn, Yahoo: Agreement reached | IBM, Oracle sued over server software patents | Boxer emerges as DTT 'champion' | Record Mac sales give Apple stellar quarter | Notebooks drive EMEA PC growth | Microsoft, Google disappoint analysts | Nokia sees Q2 profit drop 61pc
Yahoo claims 'strong' Q2
Yahoo's earnings for its second quarter came in one cent lower than expectations, with net income declining 19 percent, but the company called the quarter "strong". Using generally accepted accounting principles, the company's net income decreased 19 percent from USD161 million in the year-earlier quarter to USD131 million. But excluding various charges, the internet pioneer reported profits of USD0.10 per share, less than the USD0.11 per share that analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected. Revenue increased 8 percent to USD1.35 billion, excluding commissions called traffic acquisition costs that are paid to advertising partners. Analysts had expected USD1.37 billion. CEO Jerry Yang remained optimistic about his company's fortunes.
Icahn, Yahoo: Agreement reached
Yahoo has reached a settlement with activist investor Carl Icahn, who will join the internet company's board. Icahn, who had proposed his own slate of board members, was calling for the company to reach a deal to sell all or part of the company to Microsoft. Icahn and Microsoft officials had previously stated they could not work with the existing Yahoo board. As part of the settlement, Icahn, who owns about 68.7 million shares, or 4.9 percent of Yahoo common stock, has agreed to withdraw his nominees for consideration at the annual meeting and to vote his Yahoo shares in support of the board's nominees. Eight members of Yahoo's current board of directors will stand for re-election at the scheduled shareholder meeting next month. The board will expand to 11 members, adding Icahn and two other nominees from Icahn's slate.
IBM, Oracle sued over server software patents
Seattle firm Implicit Networks is suing Adobe, IBM, Oracle and SAP for patent infringements. Implicit Networks accuses the four of infringing two separate patents related to speeding up security processes on servers. The company wants a royalty payment and is not seeking to stop sales of the products, which include IBM's WebSphere Application Server, Oracle's Application Server, SAP's NetWeaver and Adobe's JRun and ColdFusion software, according to Bloomberg. Back in February Implicit filed against AMD, Intel, Nvidia, RealNetworks and Sun over a different alleged patent infringement.
Boxer emerges as DTT 'champion'
The Denis O'Brien-backed Boxer DTT consortium has been awarded all three national digital terrestrial television (DTT) licences. In all, three consortia applied for the national DTT multiplex licences. Along with Boxer DTT there was the One Vision consortium, which was formed by TV3, Setanta Sports, Eircom and UK group Arqiva; and EasyTV, which is supported by RTE and Liberty Global. The Boxer DTT consortium was formed by Denis O'Brien's Communicorp and Swedish DTT operator the Boxer Group, along with BT Ireland. Boxer DTT said it will launch its offering in January 2009. The 12-year licence will enable Boxer to operate three multiplexes (broadcasting networks) providing about 30 channels of digital TV through existing rooftop aerials.
Record Mac sales give Apple stellar quarter
Apple has reported record Mac sales and one of its best third quarters ever. For the company's third fiscal quarter, which ended 28 June, Apple reported USD7.46 billion in revenue and net profit of USD1.07 billion, equal to USD1.19 per share. That far exceeds the company's own guidance for the quarter and also beats Wall Street's expectations of USD7.37 billion and USD1.08 per share. Mac sales were about in line with expectations, at 2.5 million units shipped during the quarter, and iPod shipments were actually a little higher than expected, at 11 million units. Apple's guidance for the upcoming quarter, however, was well below Wall Street forecasts. The company said to expect USD7.8 billion in revenue and earnings per share of USD1, while analysts were looking for USD8.3 billion in revenue and USD1.24 in profits per share.
Notebooks drive EMEA PC growth
The EMEA PC market continues to grow at a healthy pace as laptops and the burgeoning popularity of the ultra-mobile low-cost notebook drive shipments. That's according to second quarter figures from research firm IDC, which revealed that PC shipments in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region increased by 24.5 percent over the second quarter of 2007. Notebooks continued to drive the PC market, with shipments growing at over 53 percent year-on-year. Desktops also performed a little better than expected in the quarter, with shipments increasing by 0.7 percent over the comparable quarter in 2007. Growth in the overall EMEA region was helped in some way by the introduction of the ultra-mobile low-cost notebook. And it looks like these models will continue to have a positive impact on the PC market, according to IDC.
Microsoft, Google disappoint analysts
Although both Microsoft and Google posted higher profits, the tech giants issued cautious outlooks. Microsoft posted a 42 percent rise in profits for its fiscal fourth quarter, compared to a year ago when the firm's bottom line took a hit on Xbox-related charges. Profits for the quarter amounted to USD4.3 billion, or USD0.46 a share, compared with USD3.04 billion, or USD0.31 a share, a year earlier. Microsoft was restrained with its outlook for its first fiscal quarter 2009, saying it expects earnings per share of USD0.47 or USD0.48 on the back of revenue of between USD14.7 billion and USD14.9 billion. Meanwhile, Google posted a 35 percent jump in net income to USD1.25 billion for Q2, compared with USD925 million in Q2 2007. Revenue was up 39 percent year-on-year, to USD5.37 billion, from USD3.87 billion a year earlier. Despite the revenue and profit growth, Google's results disappointed analysts.
Nokia sees Q2 profit drop 61pc
Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia has posted a 61 percent drop in net income for the second quarter on the back of restructuring costs and a slowing market. Net profit for the quarter came to EUR1.1 billion, compared with EUR2.8 billion last year. Analysts had been expecting profit of EUR1.3 billion. It must be said that profit for the second quarter in 2007 was boosted by a gain from the formation of Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), the Finnish giant's joint venture with Siemens, while this quarter's bottom line was affected by continuing restructuring costs at NSN and a EUR259 million charge from the closure of a manufacturing plant at Bochum, Germany. Earnings per share for the quarter were EUR0.20, a 60 percent drop on the year-ago figure. Sales for the three-month period to end of June amounted to EUR13.2 billion, just a 4 percent increase on the year-ago figure of EUR12.6 billion.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 